Prime Minister Tony Abbott today greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Leader's Summit in Brisbane with a smile, a handshake - and a few pointed fingers.

Mr Abbott, as the host of the 2014 summit, was officially welcoming all leaders to the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre at Southbank.

The pair chatted briefly and Mr Putin made various gestures throughout the conversation.

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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged smiles and awkward finger-pointing when they met at the G20 Summit in Brisbane today ... but there was no 'shirt-fronting'

Their apparently amiable conversation appeared at odds with recent statements and actions by the two leaders.

Tensions have ratcheted up between Australia and Russia since the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 earlier this year, which killed 38 Australians.

Mr Abbott pledged to 'shirtfront' Mr Putin over the incident, as he alleged the plane was shot down by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The amicable greeting was at odds with Mr Abbott's recent promise to 'Shirtfront' the Russian president over the shooting of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australians

Pointing the finger: PM Abbott greets President Putin in Brisbane today, days after he told the Russian President in Beijing that his country would be 'so much more attractive' if it stopped trying to 'recreate the lost glories' of its history

Mr Putin was subjected to a diplomatic snub on Friday evening when Mr Abbott's government sent a low-ranking MP, the assistant defence minister Stuart Robert, to greet Mr Putin at the airport.

The snub followed controversy over Mr Putin's deployment of a small fleet of four Russian vessels to the Queensland coast.

Commentators dubbed the move a 'shipfront' to Mr Abbott.

The pair recently had a conversation at the APEC meeting in Beijing, where Mr Abbott said he told the Russian leader not to attempt to 'recreate the lost glories' of its history.

'One of the points I tried to make to Putin is that Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace and freedom and prosperity... instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of Tsarism or the old Soviet Union,' Mr Abbott told reporters.

U.S. President Barack Obama also took a potshot at Mr Putin's administration in a landmark speech on Australian soil today.

Mr Obama said America 'shares Australia's grief' over the destruction of MH17, and said the incident was 'appalling'.

To your seats: In what has been called a 'diplomatic snub', Mr Abbott's government sent a low-ranking MP to greet Mr Putin at the airport on Friday evening

Shipfront? Australia says it is monitory the movements of four Russian naval vessels off the northern Australian coast this week in what has been labelled a provocative display of Russian muscle-flexing ahead of the G20 summit